The embodiments herein relate generally to devices used for obtaining gold from a gravel slurry.
Prior to embodiments of the disclosed invention, gold prospecting was done in the United States by running a gravel slurry through a sluice box. However, sluice boxes were stationary devices and the gravel being washed was rarely near the sluice box. This required mechanical transportation by shovel or bucket, many times up to thirty feet or more from the point of the gravel extraction to the sluice box.
In some countries, this gravel transportation was accomplished by a gravel pump. However, gravel pumps were poorly designed with many mechanical components that resulted in extreme wear by gravel and abrasive sand, requiring frequent rebuilding of the gravel pump. Embodiments of the disclosed invention solve these problems.